Ahead of this weekend's festival, psych rock producer Al Lover made another of his mixtapes for the fest. It includes songs by all the artists on the lineup, as well as his redux of Lumerians' "Hook For An Eye," exclusive to this mix. The mix premieres in this post and can be streamed below.

There are also Levitation festivals in France and Vancouver, the latter of which just announced its lineup. APF is also putting on two SXSW shows with help from Sailor Jerry. Lineups and more info for those, below.

Now that it's December, Best of Lists Season is in full swing. If you're already tired of seeing ones that haveThe War on Drugs at the top (or near it), you can always rely on UK website The Quietus to offer up something different. They just published their "Albums Of The Year 2014" and topping it is electronic artist Gazelle Twin's second album, Unflesh. Say The Quietus:

On Unflesh, Gazelle Twin - aka Elizabeth Bernholz - doesn't see dualism as an academic exercise or a philosophical plaything. Instead, it's born of bloody experience as she claws and digs her way to its gory, physical core. Puberty, anxiety, miscarriage, illness and euthanasia are all present, and Bernholz's treatment of them ranges from a shuddering disgust to vengeful catharsis to something approaching tender acceptance.

The Quietus' list is not without names familiar to readers of our site -- Swans, Scott Walker & Sunn O))), FKA twigs, Aphex Twin, Future Islands -- but it definitely does not follow the beaten path.

Check out The Quietus' full "Albums Of The Year 2014" (and stream a few songs from their #1) below...

Earth maestro Dylan Carlson's solo alias DRCARLSONALBION is now streaming a slice from the original soundtrack for the movie Gold. The opening movement shimmers like heat lines on the Western horizon, presenting his marvelous guitar tone without any other instrumentation. The OST is set to receive a digital, CD, and LP release on June 17. (Preoder.)

The soundtrack kicks-off a stacked summer for Carlson. Along with Wonders From The House of Albion -- his long-awaited Kickstarted solo album -- scheduled for 2014 release, the droner will be touring with Earth throughout Asia, Australia, and Europe, leading up to a promised Earth full-length in the near future.

Speaking of live guitar wrangling, frequent Earth artist/collaborator Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))), Khanate, Burning Witch) has been playing shows with his Nazoranai three-piece that counts similar six-string stimulators Keiji Haino and Oren Ambarchi. The touring triumvirate checked in at The Knitting Factory last night after the show was moved from The Wick. We missed it but caught their Tuesday show at Empty Bottle in Chicago.

O' Malley and Ambarchi are still in NYC and appearing at Tectonics Festival, held at Issue Project Room on Friday, May 23. $20 at the door gets you in to see the two interpret Alvin Lucier's Criss Cross and an Eyvind Kane commissioned piece where they'll be joined by Hildur Guðnadóttir. Other dates are listed below.

Ambarchi also has a new release coming soon. On May 27, the Australian improviser will issue a joint effort with Richard Pinhas from the cult-adored French prog beast Heldon. Titled Tikkun, the album will come out via Cuneiform Records. (Preorder.) The currently available excerpt "Washington, D.C. - T4V1" jams psych and a motorik pulse in a paint-shaker. For fans of the fried-by-acid, it sounds like a trip.

All of the tour dates, along with streams from Gold, Tikkun, and more, appear below.

The Polish-based experimental/electronic Unsound Festival took 2013 off in NYC (it did happen in other countries though), but it will return for another installment this year from April 2 - 6 at various venues, including Cameo Gallery, Issue Project Room, BAMcinematek, The Wick, Lincoln Center, and others. Artists playing include Demdike Stare, Huerco S, DeepChord, Inga Copeland, Ital & Halal, Ben Vida, Vladislav Delay and others.

The Issue Project Room's space at 22 Boerum Place, located inside an 87-year-old former Elks Club headquarters, is one of the cooler venues in the city. The intimate room, originally designed for chamber music, is especially ideal for the sort of heady soundscapes and textural improvised music often booked there.

Plus: Amen Dunes teams with Tom Thayer on October 18, then the next night (10/19) it's William Basinski, and the night after that (10/20) has No-Neck Blues Band, plus Loren Connors & Tom Carter. And lots more. Full fest schedule is in this post.

Syrian pop musician Omar Souleyman has been gaining recognition here in America thanks to some compilations/live albums on Sublime Frequencies, the live shows he's been doing here over the last few years, and his association with Bjork. Now he's set to release his first official studio album, Wenu Wenu, on October 22 via Domino affiliate Ribbon Music. The record is being produced entirely by electronic mastermind Four Tet, who is openly a fan. Check out a song from the album in a recent Four Tet mix (around the 1:57:00 mark), the album trailer, and tracklist, below.

Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, ...[and he] has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji Haino, John Zorn, Rizili, Voice Crack, Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Dave Grohl, Gunter Muller, Evan Parker, z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg, Merzbow and many more. Since 2004 Ambarchi has worked with American avant metal outfit Sunn 0))) contributing to many of their releases and side-projects including their Black One album from 2005 and the recent Monoliths & Dimensions release.

Oren Ambarchi will play two NYC shows, his only two US shows for that matter, as part of a short string of dates (that does include some shows in Canada).

The first NYC show will be a solo show for Ambarchi on December 2nd at Le Poisson Rouge with Northampton Wools (aka Thurston Moore & Bill Nace) and Carlos Giffoni. Tickets are on sale. The second will feature the only US collaboration between Ambarchi, Keith Rowe, and Crys Cole at Littlefield. Loren Connors will support on the 12/4 performance, and tickets are on sale.